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As the cartoon cult hit Family Guy reaches its milestone 200th episode — airing Sunday night at 9 on Fox and Global — its creator and star voice, Seth MacFarlane, is adding another dimension to his career.

That’s three dimensions, instead of two.

MacFarlane made his live-action directorial debut with the comedy feature Ted, also voicing its titular teddy bear, which earned a not-insubstantial $435 million at the box-office worldwide. A sequel is being contemplated.

In September, MacFarlane released a musical album of American standards called Music is Better than Words.

Later that same month he knocked it out of the park as guest host on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, demonstrating an easy charm and remarkable versatility.

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As a more or less direct result, MacFarlane will host the Oscars.

No one saw that one coming, not even MacFarlane.

“It’s truly an overwhelming privilege to be asked to host the Oscars,” he said in a statement. “My thoughts upon hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and two, I hope they don’t find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen Roast.”

For the record, even the late, great Johnny Carson could not have saved the odious Sheen Roast.

And of course there remains Family Guy, and its sister series American Dad, both of which have been renewed for another two seasons. Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show still awaits a network pickup.

But cancellation in MacFarlane’s world is not necessarily a permanent condition. Family Guy has been cancelled twice by Fox, though never for very long, rescued from oblivion again and again by its massive fan base and corresponding DVD sales.

Thirteen years, 200 episodes and two Emmys later, Family Guy has become a $2-billion franchise. And MacFarlane is a very wealthy man, the highest paid writer/producer in television, with a personal cut of $33 million from the $100 million contract he negotiated in 2008. He re-upped this year for another two seasons for $25 million more.

Obsessed with animation from an early age, MacFarlane was hired by Hanna-Barbera straight out of college, solely on the basis of his cartoon thesis, The Life of Larry, which would become the template for Family Guy. He also freelanced for Disney.

Initially, Family Guy, a superficially similar second cousin to The Simpsons, was earmarked as interstitial content for Fox’s MADtv, in the same way The Simpsons had started out as bits between sketches on an earlier Fox comedy, The Tracey Ullman Show.

When that didn’t pan out, Family Guy went forward at Fox as a stand-alone show, an edgy and envelope-pushing prime-time cartoon, with the 24-year-old MacFarlane at the helm as writer/producer and multiple voice star, putting words into the mouths of doofus dad Peter, Machiavellian toddler Stewie, talking dog Brian and horn-dog Quagmire.

MacFarlane had hoped to also indulge his childhood passion for The Flintstones, the original cartoon sitcom, and cut a deal with Fox to reboot the show. It is now however officially “on hold,” its staff dismissed and offices emptied.

MacFarlane is otherwise occupied. He is developing a live-action sitcom for Fox, as yet untitled, about two adult guys dealing with their live-in dads.

And he’s found yet another way to indulge his inner geek.

Family Guy has always been laced with science-fiction references, particularly time travel, a theme he returns to in Sunday’s 200th episode.

In 2010, he purchased an exact replica of the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

Then there are Family Guy’s Star Wars specials, and the voice reunion of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. MacFarlane giddily guested twice on Star Trek: Enterprise, and also voiced characters on the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars and the comics-based sequel film Hellboy II.

But his next confirmed project deals in science fact. He is currently prepping Cosmos, a “continuation” of Carl Sagan’s prestigious 1980s science series, then the most-watched show in PBS history. It is tentatively scheduled to debut next year.

“We’re not expecting Cosmos to be our highest-rated show,” says Fox president Kevin Reilly, “but it’s going to be a really interesting piece of intellectual property, something we’re going to be proud of, and we’re going to exploit it in a lot of different ways across our networks, starting with Fox.”

The success of Ted might otherwise indicate that MacFarlane is moving away from TV to focus solely on film. Reilly insists otherwise.

“He’s busy, no bones about it. He is a very, very ambitious guy and very creatively restless . . . and I think he’s proving it again now with this feature success. But I don’t think he’s done with television.

“Look, I love the guy, personally and professionally. He has just been a blast to work with. He’s one of a kind.”

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